Author Archives: SCA

Two Up and a Bag of Chips! George’s Coney Island

Two Up and a Bag of Chips! George’s Coney Island: Serving the Worcester Community for Over 100 Years
By Kathryn Tsandikos with Holly Robinson
Cambridge, Mass.: TidePool Press, 2021
Softcover, 144 pages, $30

Reviewed by Harold Aurand Jr.

I’ve never been to Worcester, Massachusetts, and so, of course, I’ve never eaten at George’s Coney Island either. As soon as I saw this book, though, I knew I needed to have it in my collection. I have other books on restaurants, but usually, they’re about certain types, like diners, steakhouses, or chains. Books on just one restaurant are rarer, or maybe they’re published and marketed locally and harder to find.

The American Roadside in Émigré Literature, Film, and Photography 1955-1985

The American Roadside in Émigré Literature, Film, and Photography 1955-1985

By Elsa Court
Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020
193 pp., hardcover, $84.99

Reviewed by Paul Sherman

Ever since Alexis de Tocqueville roamed the fledgling United States and wrote Democracy in America, the idea that the fresh eyes and ears of a foreign intellectual can provide insights that natives might miss has become something of a trope.

Highway 101: The History of El Camino Real

Highway 101: The History of El Camino Real
By Stephen H. Provost
Fresno, Calif.: Craven Street Books, 2020
170 B & W and 33 Color images
248 pp., paperback, $20.95

Reviewed by Barbara Gossett

Stephen Provost has once again documented the course of a wonderful road trip while providing detailed and entertaining commentary about the history, geography, and (of course) commercial archeology of U.S. Highway 101.